Help with Optoelectronics Digital Scout

[wb4sqi]

Bought a minty Opto Digital Scout recently and need some help with use.

In my home it constantly picks up signals in the 1400 to 1600 mhz range, doesn't seem to see my Wifi at 2.5ghz.

Walked around a small town fall festival last weekend and it recorded many hits, all between 1400 and 1600 mhz, nothing else.

Checked with my Btech handheld and it picked up both digital and analog fm at 145.51 mhz so i assume it is working to some extent.

I may be dense but to capture signals the manual indicates the filter must be enabled but it captured my handheld without the filter enabled. I believe
the Scout is working but I may not have it configured properly. Auto store is enabled, Resolution is 100 hz (slow), pulse width 300us, filter enabled, freq display measured, interface reaction tune receiver CI-5, beep and vibration off.

What exactly does the "test" button accomplish?

Any advice or hints will be appreciated, thanks much.

Nick

 

[techman210]

Bought a minty Opto Digital Scout recently and need some help with use.

In my home it constantly picks up signals in the 1400 to 1600 mhz range, doesn't seem to see my Wifi at 2.5ghz.

Walked around a small town fall festival last weekend and it recorded many hits, all between 1400 and 1600 mhz, nothing else.

Checked with my Btech handheld and it picked up both digital and analog fm at 145.51 mhz so i assume it is working to some extent.

I may be dense but to capture signals the manual indicates the filter must be enabled but it captured my handheld without the filter enabled. I believe
the Scout is working but I may not have it configured properly. Auto store is enabled, Resolution is 100 hz (slow), pulse width 300us, filter enabled, freq display measured, interface reaction tune receiver CI-5, beep and vibration off.

What exactly does the "test" button accomplish?

Any advice or hints will be appreciated, thanks much.

Nick

From their web page:

"The Digital Scout is not capable of counting Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS), CDMA and PCS"

 

[wb4sqi]

From their web page:

"The Digital Scout is not capable of counting Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS), CDMA and PCS"

Great, but that isn't helpful to me.

 

[palmerjrusa]

Bought a minty Opto Digital Scout recently and need some help with use.

In my home it constantly picks up signals in the 1400 to 1600 mhz range, doesn't seem to see my Wifi at 2.5ghz.

Walked around a small town fall festival last weekend and it recorded many hits, all between 1400 and 1600 mhz, nothing else.

Checked with my Btech handheld and it picked up both digital and analog fm at 145.51 mhz so i assume it is working to some extent.

I may be dense but to capture signals the manual indicates the filter must be enabled but it captured my handheld without the filter enabled. I believe
the Scout is working but I may not have it configured properly. Auto store is enabled, Resolution is 100 hz (slow), pulse width 300us, filter enabled, freq display measured, interface reaction tune receiver CI-5, beep and vibration off.

What exactly does the "test" button accomplish?

Any advice or hints will be appreciated, thanks much.

Nick

You're not the only one confused by how this thing is supposed to work.

I think the test function is supposed to be a frequency output test re something else.

 

[lynnsnyder1968]

Here is the manual for it Digital Scout User Manual.

 

[palmerjrusa]

Here is the manual for it Digital Scout User Manual.

According to the instructions for setting the squelch level for analog signals there should be a single line in the indicator and no squelch bars visible otherwise analog signals will not be detected. I've never been able to get a single line with no squelch bars.

 

[techman210]

Great, but that isn't helpful to me.

That’s why you can’t pick up WiFi

 

[IC-R20]

Honestly unless you're hunting weird microwave stuff or things not covered by regular scanners it's better to just get a Uniden handheld. I've used these cheap frequency counter things before and they're very slapped together in build quality and very gimmicky to operate. I wouldn't be surprised if this erroneous pickup you keep getting in the 1400 range is just internally generated noise.

Also unless you're using it as testbench equipment Close call works a lot better and you can get a 75XLT/125AT for around the same price so there's no need to resort to 1990s style scanner tactics. Another important thing to keep in mind as well is there just could've been no one transmitting while you were searching. There's times I had to sit for hours just to catch a hit off a store I know had handhelds.

 

[Ubbe]

I had the MkI version and MkII version of Digital Scout and they where a disappointment to me. They rarely pick up any digital, only some cellular in the 1800Mhz range and no analog even if I constantly change the squelch level to set it exactly. I instead got the much cheaper Aceco SC1plus and that picks up most of the digital stuff and works much better. The analog Scout40 are a wonderful product and together with the Aceco it makes a perfect pair.

/Ubbe

 

[wb4sqi]

Thanks to all for your input. I have the manual, read it several times and for some reason can't comprehend what Opto is telling me, that's the reason I created this thread, looking for input from other users. Some of the settings are confusing as to expected operation. What is the filter and why should it be on or off? Squelch, I understand that easy enough but where should it be set? How does one determine the local noise level for setting the squelch?

Spent an hour in Sam's Club recently and it picked up one frequency at 915.5125.

I made up a reaction tune cable for my R30, hoping to eventually use this combo in new locations. Close call is a completely different solution from the Opto Scouts. For the unschooled there is a separate thread on RR that explains the operation and difference between Scout and CC, unfortunately that thread is closed.

Keep the comments coming folks.

 

[palmerjrusa]

Thanks to all for your input. I have the manual, read it several times and for some reason can't comprehend what Opto is telling me, that's the reason I created this thread, looking for input from other users. Some of the settings are confusing as to expected operation. What is the filter and why should it be on or off? Squelch, I understand that easy enough but where should it be set? How does one determine the local noise level for setting the squelch?

Spent an hour in Sam's Club recently and it picked up one frequency at 915.5125.

I made up a reaction tune cable for my R30, hoping to eventually use this combo in new locations. Close call is a completely different solution from the Opto Scouts. For the unschooled there is a separate thread on RR that explains the operation and difference between Scout and CC, unfortunately that thread is closed.

Keep the comments coming folks.

Adjust the squelch until there's "four bars" for digital signals and "one bar" for analog signals (the manual is confusing re analog signals).

It will detect signals when the squelch is set as above, though I've never gotten it to distinguish between digital or analog transmissions, I get the same response for both.

Enabling the filter allows the Scout to log the signal in the memory.
When the filter is disabled it just displays any signal until it disappears.

 

[wb4sqi]

Adjust the squelch until there's "four bars" for digital signals and "one bar" for analog signals (the manual is confusing re analog signals).

Boy I'll say. Been playing with squelch this morning. I'm seeing 4 bars now. Got to set it much higher to get 1 bar.

It will detect signals when the squelch is set as above, though I've never gotten it to distinguish between digital or analog transmissions, I get the same reponse for both.

Enabling the filter allows the Scout to log the signal in the memory.
When the filter is disabled it just displays any signal until it disappears.

OK, now this is helpful information. I think my big problem was not setting the squelch correctly, had it turned down to min with only a black square instead of bars showing. Hopefully this will enable it to work correctly, thanks much.

 

[palmerjrusa]

Boy I'll say. Been playing with squelch this morning. I'm seeing 4 bars now. Got to set it much higher to get 1 bar.


OK, now this is helpful information. I think my big problem was not setting the squelch correctly, had it turned down to min with only a black square instead of bars showing. Hopefully this will enable it to work correctly, thanks much.

With the squelch set to minimum (no bars) signals are not detected, I've done that experiment.

 

[wb4sqi]

Yup!

 

[palmerjrusa]

Yup!

Toggling the "test" button will display signal strength too.

 

[palmerjrusa]

Boy I'll say. Been playing with squelch this morning. I'm seeing 4 bars now. Got to set it much higher to get 1 bar.


OK, now this is helpful information. I think my big problem was not setting the squelch correctly, had it turned down to min with only a black square instead of bars showing. Hopefully this will enable it to work correctly, thanks much.

Yeah, the manual is very confusing. You actually have to increase the squelch (more bars) to get a single bar in the upper right-hand side display for analog signals.

 

[wb4sqi]

Two different Lowe’s and a Walmart, nothing received yet. Squelch set at one bar. But, didn’t see anyone with a radio either.

 

[IC-R20]

Thanks to all for your input. I have the manual, read it several times and for some reason can't comprehend what Opto is telling me, that's the reason I created this thread, looking for input from other users. Some of the settings are confusing as to expected operation. What is the filter and why should it be on or off? Squelch, I understand that easy enough but where should it be set? How does one determine the local noise level for setting the squelch?

Spent an hour in Sam's Club recently and it picked up one frequency at 915.5125.

I made up a reaction tune cable for my R30, hoping to eventually use this combo in new locations. Close call is a completely different solution from the Opto Scouts. For the unschooled there is a separate thread on RR that explains the operation and difference between Scout and CC, unfortunately that thread is closed.

Keep the comments coming folks.

Yes we're all aware of that difference and close call works way better, which for your counter isn't even working at all right now. I understand the buyer remorse and wanting to force it to work but it's mostly pointless for field work these days.

Also for Sam Club btw you should be getting a hit around 151 MHz as they normally use one of the bottom 3 MURS channels for those that are still on analog, some have started using 900 MHz FHSS radios (DTR/DLR).

 

[palmerjrusa]

Yes we're all aware of that difference and close call works way better, which for your counter isn't even working at all right now. I understand the buyer remorse and wanting to force it to work but it's mostly pointless for field work these days.

Also for Sam Club btw you should be getting a hit around 151 MHz as they normally use one of the bottom 3 MURS channels for those that are still on analog, some have started using 900 MHz FHSS radios (DTR/DLR).

When the settings are correct the Digital Scout works as intended.

I still own its analog predecessor and logged many frequencies using it.

 

[wb4sqi]

Yes we're all aware of that difference and close call works way better, which for your counter isn't even working at all right now. I understand the buyer remorse and wanting to force it to work but it's mostly pointless for field work these days.

No buyers remorse here, it works find so far on analog and digital, both vhf and uhf. I'm just trying to learn how to use this device properly.

Also for Sam Club btw you should be getting a hit around 151 MHz as they normally use one of the bottom 3 MURS channels for those that are still on analog, some have started using 900 MHz FHSS radios (DTR/DLR).

I rechecked the memory and it was a 911 mhz frequency, one hit only and with the squelch wide open. Now that I know how to adjust the squelch, it should be good to go.

I used an earlier version of the Scout with an AOR AR8000 years ago and it worked really well. I've never had much luck with close call so lets just agree to disagree.